On November 3, 2020, the United States Department of Justice announced that Illinois-based charter school management company Concept Schools "has agreed to pay $4.5 million as part of a civil settlement to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by engaging in non-competitive bidding practices in connection with" the E-rate program.
The DOJ's press release states that Concept Schools "rigged the bidding for E-Rate contracts between 2009 and 2012 in favor of chosen technology vendors" and that those vendors "provided equipment at higher prices than those approved by the FCC for equipment with the same functionality."
The DOJ press release may be accessed here.
